Creating Multiple Streams Of Residual Income Around Your Passion Zones With Tiffany Pantozzi
One of the biggest lessons you can take away from this current pandemic is that jobs are not guaranteed. You can't depend on just one single source of income because tomorrow is not promised. Today, Stefanie Peters talks to Tiffany Pantozzi about creating multiple streams of residual income around your passion zones. A Florida native, Tiffany is a real estate specialist and advisor who helps seasoned investors as well as those new to the Central Florida Real Estate market with all their real estate needs. Together, Stefanie and Tiffany share their experiences in the real estate arena, with Tiffany sharing her insights on what to look for and what to steer clear from so you can start creating multiple streams of residual income and build that empire.
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Creating Multiple Streams Of Residual Income Around Your Passion Zones With Tiffany Pantozzi
I am honored to have one of my dear friends on the show. She is a hustler, but she has the heart to back her up. She is a top 1% of all agents in Central Florida and a member of the Compass Private Client Network. The grossed over $1.5 billion in luxury real estate annually. She is successful in her own right even before she hit real estate. She was a previous professional experience, having to do with recognizable brands. Whatever she puts her hand to, it turns to gold. She's incredible. One of the reasons that I wanted to bring her on the show is not only she's a boss, but one of the Instagram posts that struck a chord with me is I'm going to read it for you verbatim. I am going to have her take over from here.
As you know, in this pandemic, it has rocked people's world. This is verbatim what she said, “What's one of the biggest lessons you can take away from this pandemic?” Her answer was, “Jobs are not guaranteed. You can't depend on one single source of income and tomorrow is not promised.” We're going to dive in about multiple streams of residual income revolving around your passion zones. For her and me, one of the big streams of income has been real estate. She's going to share her insight, her wisdom of what to look for, what to steer clear from. We're going to share both of our experiences in the real estate arena and to break down the steps so that you don't feel intimidated to grab hold of real estate and help it to leverage your time, build wealth and build that empire that you're looking to build. Tiffany, thank you so much for jumping on.
I’m happy to be doing this with you. Thank you so much for having me.
Let's jump in head first to your backstory. Your success, even from like a marketing standpoint, how well-networked you are, what a master negotiator you are. I want to hear the backstory before you dove right into real estate. What prompted you to make the pivot into real estate?
A funny story is that I've never thought I'd ever been in real estate. Even though my whole family wasn't in it, my husband, it wasn't my career path. Straight out of college, I started my own apparel company. I was in the fashion industry for many years. I had a sports license apparel company. I held licenses for all the top universities in the country and NBA. I did a private label NFL merchandise. I sold millions of dollars of merchandise all over the country. I had an opportunity where somebody had come and asked me to purchase the company because I had these great assets called licenses that are only given out to certain people and they're limited. It’s an important resource to have if you want to sell sports licensed apparel.
I had some great licenses that a bigger company was very interested in. I had an opportunity to sell that company to them, which led me to the question, “Tiffany, what's next in your career?” which took me a while before I committed to that being real estate, with my background in sales and marketing and understanding what it is to be an entrepreneur. Understanding that it's not 9:00 to 5:00 in this industry. Working with people, being creative, negotiating contracts with the NBA, the NCAA, managing my team, all the things that come along with being a business owner, I felt could be a very valuable skillset to provide and utilize here in real estate. Aside from the fact that real estate is the number one industry that can create wealth beyond your dreams. It's proven. It was the next natural progression for me because I've always been very passionate about working for myself, and this industry allows for that to work on your own time and at your pace and be your own box. As possibilities now, that's what it's all about. That's what led me here to real estate.
During college, I also cheered for the NFL and the Miami Dolphins. When I moved to Orlando, I danced for the Magic. I represented some of the world's most renowned brands and understanding how to be an ambassador for a brand and how to represent them out in the public as well. I'm networking with people, connecting with people, all those things. All that background that I had has been able to help me, and also with my experience in entertainment and video production and public speaking. All that has helped me now in real estate because I take a different approach to the marketing that I do in real estate and how I connect with others all over the world to share my services and what I have to offer to attract the right clients. That has brought me to real estate and how I'm able to see success in my business. As you were talking about what happened with this pandemic, I was sitting at home, not sure what's going to happen in real estate.
All my eggs are now in the real estate basket. When you think about whether you're an employee who works for somebody, whatever it might be, any industry. The hospitality industry was rocked like crazy. You don't know. The idea of saying, “I'm a smart businesswoman. I know that you have to diversify your income. You can't have it all in one.” It's proven that most millionaires and billionaires made their money through multiple streams of income, multiple investments. It's about thinking bigger and saying, “Beyond working in my real estate business on the retail side, how can I invest in my real estate business for myself and the future of my family?” Create that passive income through rental opportunities or whether short-term or long-term or flipping homes.
Beyond that, how can you create something virtual? Where you can work from anywhere, enjoy your life, have the best life by managing your time the way you want to and see paychecks coming in every month. Don't we all want that? I can't imagine that there would be somebody who would say, “I don't want to work from anywhere and have paychecks coming in passively.” You'd have to be crazy if so. That's my story and what's led me to where I am, my mentality, how I focus and how I look at my business and spend my time on a day-to-day business, reaching for my dreams and getting a step closer every day.
Residual Income: Most millionaires and billionaires made their money through multiple streams of income.
You touched on a couple of different concepts that are important. Number one, digging your well before you're thirsty. It's important to have those multiple streams of residual income revolving around your passion zones because you never know what tomorrow is going to bring. The average millionaire has seven streams of income. I encourage people that are getting up and rolling at least to have 2 or 3. To focus on building one extremely strong and then you want to automate, delegate, eliminate and then go onto the next one. People are like, “I need to create these multiple streams of residual income.” They hop to this and that. They're not focused on the main one at hand. They build that foundation for themselves. They feel like they're are in a complete rat race. They're in a worse position than they were at that 9:00 to 5:00 because their time is going in many different directions.
That's why I'm such a big advocate of build that foundation on that first residual stream, figure it out, become an expert or even hire in the experts to help you along the way to get that automated and build that foundation and then go onto the next thing. It's important to figure out the ins and outs of the flipping game. It's important to learn the ins and outs on the buy and hold and Airbnb but pick one strategy, get good at it, but the right people in place and then move on to that next step. You are doing such a great job. I always tell people to create that super strong stream of income, which you've done phenomenal being a real estate agent. You are starting to take those strong steps in the investment game for yourself.
It's exactly what you're saying. You have to lay the foundation. It takes commitment and dedication. I was able to grow and succeed very quickly in the real estate field because of my past expertise and experience. I've been in this business now for a few years. I've laid a foundation. I've built a brand. I've spent a lot at a time letting people know this is what I do for a living. I'm good at what I do. I want to connect with you and show you that. All that foundation that I laid, all that hard work and effort I put in, now it’s starting to show the results because people reach out to me to work with me. They see me on social. Their friend recommends me. Not to say that this business is on autopilot. I'm still the agent that they need to do the work. There are segments of that effort that has now been put on autopilot because I had been consistent and built trust in my followers and people that know me. That has helped me so I can say, “I've always been finding great deals for my clients. What about great deals for me?” Using my skillset that I know to now start cherry-picking some things for me.
I want you to walk us through this investment property that you bought in New Smyrna Beach and how you found it, what your plans are for that and what your plans are for the future, as far as your investments. I love seeing you are crazy successful in your own right, but that's where a lot of lady bosses stop. They become an expert in their zone of genius. They've got in on lockdown, but then they don't know how to expand. I want you to share that next step for that woman that's got it going on in one thing, but how does she lay that foundation for the next brick?
For me, you have to spend money to make money. From running my own business and having employees, you can't do everything yourself. I'm a firm believer in surrounding yourself with other smart, talented people that you can depend on to help you in your business. No matter what you do. No matter what the industry or the company is. In my real estate business, I pay for assistance in my team. Because of that, I'm able to get my focus and other places to start to maybe cultivate that next stream of income for myself. Otherwise, I'd be a slave to my business forever or I would have a cap of saying, “I'm only ever going to be able to make this much money in my business. I'm going to have to settle for that. That's not me because the sky's the limit for me.”
By being able to train the right support team and putting certain systems in place, I'm able to step out a little bit and say, “Now what do I want to focus on?” Whether it be the next marketing initiative to find off-market properties and deals for myself and my clients or putting a little bit more time into a different stream of income and nurturing that. Being in this industry, you do get a lot of industry insight, off-market opportunities, which is how I have found the property at the beach. I had been looking at that area and something came across my plate that happens to be in that area.
It was a funny story because I went to list the property, not necessarily to buy it. The seller was completely unrealistic about the price. Somebody had gone and promised the world as some agents do and said that it was worth more than it was. He decided to list the property with that other person. I watched it and over time I realized, “I'd like to maybe buy it myself if he doesn't sell it, maybe I'll talk to them about buying it from him.” It worked out that the agent wasn't successful. It sat on the market for a long time, nothing happened. We submitted an offer and said, “Would you take this?” He was totally happy to do it. It worked out. That was an off-market unique situation. Those opportunities do come about every here and there from being in the industry and hearing from other colleagues what's coming up and what opportunities they have.
For the audience right now, what would you say would be a good first step for them to get a pulse on the market of where they should buy the property, how they could find those off-market deals and what that looks like from the start to the finish? We're going to talk to you a little bit more high level right now. On the next show, we're going to get a little bit more in the weeds in a good way, talking about contractors, talking about permitting, talking about flips or whatever else you want to do and how that fits into your portfolio. What would you say would be the first step for the audience of how to get their hands on a good screaming deal?
Let’s say you did have that amazing screaming deal and it fell on your lap. If you don’t have your financial picture together and your plan of how you're going to acquire that property, then somebody else is going to take that screaming hot deal right from your fingertips. Step one, my other buyers that I'm working with on the retail side of things, you have to have your financial picture in order. Even my husband and I had to do this and say, “If we're going to acquire a property, what does that look like for us? Are we going to buy cash? Are we going to do financing? What programs are there out there for investors? Is this going to be your first home? Is this going to be a second home? Is this going to be an investment home?”
Those are all different programs if you're going to the lending route. Do you want to use a hard money lender? If that's the case, you better know your numbers. If you're not on a timeline, let's say permitting goes longer or contractors mess up, you are going to pay a heavy price every day you sit off the market before flipping that deal. You need to know the finances of what you're capable of pursuing, step one. Otherwise, then for having somebody going out and looking at property for you when you can't even know that you can pursue it is a complete waste of time. I don't like to waste people's time. I don't like it when people waste my time. Your financial picture, you need to understand it and what that means. We can always talk about that further another time.
From that point, you start digging in and buy little deals that you can pursue them. There are different ways to do that. You can do that by tricks to do it, buy properties that are on the market and ways to find properties that are off the market. We can dig into that as well. Once you find that amazing property, great, do you have a contractor team ready to go? Do you know how to design things and put things together? Do you know the timelines? Do you know what permitting is required in that area? How long that might take? That's going to be a big decision you're going to need to know before you decide on any financing.
Those might conflict if you do certain financing. There are a lot of little steps along the way to know about. You know your vendor picture and all that. How long is it going to take to turn this property over? Whether you're going to flip it or you're going to rent it out, you still need to know, “When am I going to start to make my money back?” Those are all part of that timeline that you have to build out. Let's say you are going to sell it or rent it, “My property is ready, now what? How do I sell it? What are the days on market? Do I have the right agent to sell it? How do I rent it out? What do I need to do to furnish it if I'm going to do short-term rentals and be a top Airbnb host?”
There are many little things. Maintenance and reserves and management and all these wonderful things. Let's say you are flipping it or you are going to buy and hold it. Do you understand what a 1031 exchange is? How does that work for you then? There are many things. We can talk for days on these topics and we have to break them all down, but there are a lot of little pieces to the puzzle before you can say, “I'm a real estate investor or I'm ready to invest in real estate.”
Probably to you, our audience, if you have not invested in your first property, that might've been a little bit of an overwhelming answer, but the great thing is you can break it down. Everything's figure-outable. My best recommendation is to get a mentor, ask someone to help. If they've done rentals before, maybe they'll mentor you or maybe you hire a coach or maybe, you team up with someone like Tiffany or myself or someone that knows what they're doing. I don't want to work with someone that has not done it themselves. It’s important to think about, “Where do I ultimately want to go?” As far as building my empire, what's going to be my best return on investment? Do buy and holds do those? Do those fit my portfolio? Do flips fit my portfolio? Do Airbnbs, student housing? There are many different ways to create those streams of income for you. This is the way that I've said it. If you want to make money quick, flip. If you want to become wealthy, those buy and holds and those residual streams are important. You want to reverse engineer what your end all, be all goals and vision are for your life. Make sure that you're putting in the pieces accordingly.
When I went on explaining all those things, it's overwhelming. It should be overwhelming because it's a lot. It's important that you take it seriously, or else you’re just throwing money down the drain, or maybe you're working with an investor's money. They don’t want you throwing their money down the drain. It's better to do your research. It's okay. Even when I was talking about building your business and you have to invest in your business. It costs money to make money. Invest in paying an advisor or a coach or a consultant or a CPA or somebody that can do the elements of this that you may not understand. Maybe you don't understand how to break down the numbers, but you do need to know. I'm not an expert in everything. I find those experts. I seek out the information. That's important to know is everything is possible. I'm a big believer. You can do anything you put your mind to if you wanted to, but you have to put in the work in anything, any business. It doesn't happen overnight. You have to put in the work.
Residual Income: You need to know your numbers and what you’re capable of pursuing.
What I would encourage you to do is to put a deadline for yourself. If you say, “In 2020, I want to buy an Airbnb or I want to buy,” whatever that is. What's the first step that you can take right now, getting off this episode of who can I reach out to make that dream a reality and put that deadline in place? “I want to buy it by September of 2020.” Let's reverse engineer it. What needs to happen between now and then to help you to realize that goal? This is something that I love to break down why a rental would be in your best interest. There are six steps. I wanted to read through this. I wanted you to expound on this, Tiffany, because I'm sure you have some great insight on this.
This breaks it down and makes it simple for that person. That's like, “I've thought about real estate.” Whenever I say I'm a real estate investor, do you know how many people tell me, “I’ve thought about getting into real estate?” Take the plunge and do something about it. Don't talk about it, do it. Why should you buy rentals? Number one, when it's purchased correctly, you get monthly income even after all the expenses. You get a nice cashflow. Number two, the homes appreciate while your loan balance goes down. Therefore, you're building wealth for yourself. Number three, the tenants pay your mortgage. I love what you said on another one of your Instagram posts is, “Dear Renter, you're already paying a mortgage, only it's not yours.” I went into alignment with number three.
Number four, there are tax advantages. You were talking about 1031 exchanges, depreciation, long-term capital gains. Number five, you can purchase and rent creatively, even adjust strategies. You could do a subject-to deal. There are many different ways to even finance out properties to get creative. If you don't feel like you have thousands and thousands of dollars on the sidelines to invest in real estate, you don't have to have a ton of money upfront. That's one of the myths when you want to dive into that. You can even do group homes, Airbnb, buy and hold, so many things. Number six, the cashflow and steady income can change your life from the rat race to your pace. I have a heartbeat especially with what's happened in my own life in the last several days when I stepped back and look at a massive transition that I had to make in one of my businesses that were heart-wrenching on a lot of levels.
I stepped back and number one, I thanked God that I dug my well before I was thirsty. In my first ten years of my career, I created a residual stream of income that if everything else completely disappears, I know that residual income will back me up and I can live on that even if everything disappeared. I went a step further. As I was building that piece of residual income, three years into that business model, I purchased my first buy and hold. That has cashflowed from day one. Now even with my real estate portfolio, let's say my first stream of income disappeared. That buy and hold income could sustain me even if I didn't make another dollar in anything else that I ever did. I created that second strong stream of income. My third strong stream of income is even in the wholesale business. Now, I've bought another Airbnb.
The more that you can expand, but what I challenge you to do now is take a step back. With what has happened in Corona, if your primary stream of income disappeared now, where would you be? It's important to think that's an absolute possibility. I'm not doing that for you to be fearful, but I'm doing that to help you to wake up to say, “This is your time.” You have resources all around you to be able to build that fortress and those multiple streams of income because, if God forbid, something happened to your significant other, your business partner, yourself in your entirety, in your career, what do you have left? That's why to give you that hope that you can do it.
What's important for people to realize too is that some of them may think, “I want to do this now, but I don't have the money to buy a house and then start renting it out.” That’s why we said the biggest take away from now should be getting your financial picture in order. Look for a financial advisor, go sit down with a banker, go into the bank, and understand what their programs are, check your credit. Talk to a lender because a lender will tell you, “Based on all this information, you're not ready now. If you do X, Y and Z, we can get you there in six months or we can get you there in twelve months.” You have to build a plan. Know what you need to do to achieve that goal. Beyond thinking, “I need to buy a house to create residual income,” that might be a lot of pressure and overwhelming for people. Maybe that's a bigger picture plan, but there are still other things that you can do that create that residual income that is virtual, help you to diversify your income through online businesses and other opportunities. That's my biggest push for now is for them to take away and say, “Connect with a professional, start on the financial picture and then take that next step.”
I have a couple of different things that I want to dial into that, which is important. Think about the big picture, where do you want to be in your life five years from now, ten years from now? If you don't know a lender or a banker, reach out to Tiffany, reach out to me. Why don't you share even your handle right now on Instagram, Tiffany, so that people can reach out to you? I'll share mine as well because I'm very well-networked in lenders. I'm very well-networked in bankers to help you take that next step.
You can find me and connect with me on Instagram, @TiffanyPantozzi. We'll be able to connect very easily.
My Instagram handle is @LadyBoss_SP. We're so excited about dialing into this series for you to help make your dreams a reality and to create those multiple streams of income revolving around your passion zones. Tiffany has some viable options to create that residual stream of income so that you can take that next step to dial into real estate and so do I. I spent the first ten years of my career building such a solid foundation for myself and a number of other people. I know Tiffany is on that same track. We want to help you to build that, dig your well before you're thirsty, and create those multiple streams of residual income around your passion zone.
What I want you to do between now and the next episode is reached out to Tiffany, reach out to me, get your financial picture in order. Also ask us maybe those next questions of, “If I'd want to start dialing into this type of real estate or that type of real estate, what's my first step?” We want to be an awesome go-to resource for you in the process of building your real estate empire. We want to give the masses that game plan to help you get from Point A to Point B, and give you the tools and resources to step up your A-game and rock it out in your own right to become that lady boss or that boss that you are meant to be.
I look at it for me and my family and our goals. It's about building your professional portfolio. My professional portfolio includes a section for real estate. I have a plan. I know how many properties you want to acquire. I know what the retirement plan looks like. I know what I want to make every year, month, whatever it may be your breakdown to live the life that I want to live. You need to start there and start to build that out. I'm excited to share as much information as we possibly can so that we can help others achieve what we've been grateful to achieve so far.
Lock arms with other lady bosses and bosses that want to live out their true potential. Tiffany, I've got three last questions to finish us out with. Number one, if someone met you and said, “I want to become the boss of my own life and call the shots, what's my first step?”
Their first step is thinking about what can they do that day to truly start a business or an income stream that would make them their own boss. If you say that, but you work a 9:00 to 5:00 and you don't have a side hustle that's going to get you out of that 9:00 to 5:00, I don't know how to tell you that you could be that lady boss that makes her schedule. I don't want to say that there are rock star CEO lady bosses of incredible major companies. They're at the top. They're able to be a little bit more flexible on their time and their schedule. For what we're talking about in terms of being your boss and not working for anybody but yourself if somebody asks me that now, I'd say, “What are you doing? Whether it be after you get off at 5:00 in your other job, what are you doing to set yourself up to have an income-producing stream for your family and yourself that you're the boss of?”
What is your definition of a boss?
A boss is somebody that doesn't have to answer to anybody but yourself. To me, that's like, “I'm a boss because I control my future. I control my life. I don't have to be under somebody else's wing or somebody else's control.” To me, that's true freedom in my life. If I wake up and decide I want to go on a bike ride with my husband, I can do that. I can do whatever I want. I'm in control. It also does come along with more pressure. Since I am in control, if I don't put in the effort, then I'm not going to see the results. I can't be going to the beach all the time and hanging out at yoga and all that good stuff. It's about that work-life balance everybody always talks about, that magical thing that I'm not perfect. I don't have that mastered, not yet but that's the goal of being a boss. To me, it's being able to paint the picture I want and nobody to tell me that I can't.
Residual Income: Get your financial picture in order. Build a plan and know what you need to do to achieve that goal.
Any last words of wisdom, Tiffany?
Everybody's always looking for, “What's the secret. Give me the secret recipe, all those things. What's that one thing you do that cause of your success?” It’s not one thing. Let's get realistic. There's not one thing because then there would be a lot more successful people and this would be super easy. It's a lot of things that come together to create that magic. The first thing that most people don't realize is you have to look inside yourself. Do you mentally want it? What do you want? You have to understand what you want first. You have to set that in your head because your actions are going to follow after that. You want whatever X. What are you going to do to get X? Comes all the activity and the time you’ve got to put in.
For me, it's about looking inside and having a level of confidence to know you can do it. Confidence in yourself. I see way too many times, people don't believe in themselves. It's heartbreaking. You can give them gold on a platter and say, “All you have to do is hold this platter in your left hand and smile.” They're like, “I don't think I can do that.” It's crazy. I know it seems silly, I'm sure you come across this too. People don't believe in themselves enough to take action or maybe they don't want it bad enough. It's one or the other. To me, it's looking inside, making sure you have that confidence to believe in yourself and then setting off on your goals. It’s going to help you set the foundation to make or break you.
There was a Pinterest quote or something saying these people that don't have near as many skills, they don't have much going on for themselves, but yet they're crushing it way back on you because you are getting in your way. We all have felt that one way or the other, but truly it is. I always say, “Massive action cures all fear.” Take that first step. I love that, Tiffany.
It's okay to fail. It’s okay to fall on your face. There are many of those stories out there with some of the best, biggest companies, wealthiest executives and professionals, and entrepreneurs in this world, they weren't always successful in the first try. That's how we learn. That's important for people to realize too. If you don't take the chance, you'll never know. I always say too, if you don't ask, you'll never know what the answer is. It’s okay for somebody to tell me, “Tiffany, you can't do that, or I don't want to work with you or whatever.” If I didn't ask, I would have never known.
You miss 100% of the shots you do not take. Tiffany, this was fabulous. Where can people get in touch with you? I'm looking forward to the next couple of episodes that we're going to be rocking out together.
The best way to connect with me is definitely through Instagram, @TiffanyPantozzi. All other ways to connect with me through Facebook and YouTube and all that good stuff and my website are all going to be right there.
Thank you so much, Tiffany. You are an absolute force to be reckoned with. I’m honored.
Share your Instagram too because I want everybody that is following me to also be able to get in touch with you.
My Instagram is @LadyBoss_SP. My website is TheBossLife.tv. I'm looking forward to connecting with all the audience that says, “I want to take my business and my life to that next level.” We want to see you succeed. We want to see you get after your God-sized dream. As I always leave off with my episode, my challenge to you is for you to fire your fear, build your faith and become the boss of your own life. Let's get after it. Thanks, Tiffany.
Important Links:
@TiffanyPantozzi on Instagram
@LadyBoss_SP on Instagram
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About Tiffany Pantozzi
Tiffany is dedicated to providing her clients with unparalleled service by creating a customized real estate experience. She is in the top 1% of all agents in Central Florida and a member of the Compass Private Client Network where collectively, via all Network Partners, operates in 35 luxury markets across the country - and sells over $1.5B in luxury real estate annually.
In her previous professional experience, Tiffany represented some of the world’s most recognizable brands, which gave her a solid foundation that she is able to leverage in real estate. Her reputation as a marketing expert, skillful negotiator, and relentless advocate differentiates her in a wide market. Not only does Tiffany get the job done, but she does so with a smile.
Tiffany is a naturally social, friendly, high energy person with extensive knowledge of the local lifestyle, amenities, and history of Central Florida. She is highly organized and attentive to important details, persistent, and driven - giving each of her clients the confidence necessary to trust her with all of their real estate needs.
In this ever-changing market, she believes it’s important to stay up to date on trends and utilize cutting edge technology, which plays a strong role in her strategy for success. Tiffany’s ability to develop innovative marketing strategies provides clients with an unprecedented advantage in the market. Whether she is developing an innovative marketing plan, leveraging her expansive network, or negotiating a high stakes deal, she is always engaged and focused.
When choosing your real estate agent, Tiffany encourages you to think about what they have to offer you, how they will invest in you to put more money in your pocket, and how their brand will represent you. When managing such an important financial transaction, choose an agent that is best aligned to your needs, with the experience to match.